The velites were a light infantry unit in the Roman military during the mid-Republican era. They existed for about a century before being disbanded. The first recorded use of the velites was in 211 BC during the Siege of Capua when the Romans fought the invading Carthaginian army in the Second Punic War. Their lineage can be […]
From what we know, Evocati (singular Evocatus) were veteran soldiers who had finished their term of service in the Roman army but had voluntarily re-enlisted back into the military. Every ancient civilization had its veteran group of soldiers who served for many years in the army. The Romans had these, too, but unlike many other civilizations, they could call upon
In this series, we examine the various units that made up the Roman war machine. Armies were the backbone of any ancient civilization, and the Romans did it better than anyone else over a long period of time. Let’s examine the hastati. The hastati (singular hastatus) were an ancient unit formed in the republic’s early days in the late sixth
